- Chuck Schumer will be the next majority leader (once Reid is forced out in coming year or resigns his post but remains the senator from NV). Schumer is bitterly fighting Durbin from IL. He gains a national stage today.

- Obama picks his nose in the midst of lunch. Why? I see him do this so many times in interviews.

- Michelle changes dress and then back again at the parade. What is going on?

- Why are their actors in the sitting at the swearing in? How does one get that ticket?

- The gains women have made in Congress. Expect the next V-POTUS of the Democratic Party to be a woman. I predict Kirsten Gillibrand from NY. Mark my words. She is the next VP.

- Romney no show was bad. Why? Was he not invited?

- Bush no show was class. He stayed away. Clinton wants parties like a fly wants light.

- Hillary is old. She is not coming to the WH ever as VPOTUS or POTUS. Mark my words.

Did anyone watching the TV hear about the anti-abortion heckler? He was on the tree the whole time shouting as the speeches were being made. He kept repeating: What about the baby? This was particular contextual when Obama talk about live, liberty, etc. And, all are created equal.

The irony was that police were helpless. THEY could not do anything. The guy was up on the tree from 8 AM to 12:30 PM. Can you believe it? They kept trying to get him down.

What if this was a terrorist? The police are just clueless. They could have climbed the tree.

Barry and Moochelle are like the Hildabeast and Willie - no class Kennedy wannabe machine politicians - and the worst racists and anti-Semites to hold the White House since Woody Wilson.

Ali Karim Bey said...

A few points from the 2013 inaugural:

- Chuck Schumer will be the next majority leader (once Reid is forced out in coming year or resigns his post but remains the senator from NV). Schumer is bitterly fighting Durbin from IL. He gains a national stage today.

Harry is turning into Joe West and is fast becoming a liability. Chuckie will make Newt look like Gary Cooper.

- Romney no show was bad. Why? Was he not invited?

He was, but why freeze your brains all day for some schlub who stole the election after spending a year sliming you because he hasn't a single accomplishment in his life to which he can point?

"Yes, she did a great eye roll and head shake, good for her. She should've told him to go to hell."

How is that any different than anyone who hates Michelle and criticizes her for no reason?

For all anyone knows she was slightly irritated for having to lean forward so that her husband could have a conversation behind her. Maybe her eyes just look rolly when they're not. I had a customer accuse me and everyone else she talked to of "rolling their eyes" at her. Whenever I'm thinking hard I look angry. (Which made karate sort of interesting.)

I clicked through and the comments were either gratuitous hate on Boehner or his wife (and what did she ever do to deserve it?) or gratuitous hate on Michelle.

What *exactly*, Inga, should have Michelle told Boehner to go to hell for?

Passive-aggressive eye-rolling is what spoilt brats do when they are not getting their way. It is not the conduct of a mature, serious adult. It is not the conduct of a liberated and independent woman who can speak for herself. It shows insecurity and pettiness.

@Inga: What's with the baseless comparison of the Lincolns and Obamas, Inga? I mean I haven't seen it but if you're hinting that it was made in order to flatter our current President then maybe I don't want to see it.

Today on ABC’s This Week, after Rick Santorum explained that Americans are protective of their right to buy guns because they “want to feel safe,” former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm offered a reassuring sentiment: Americans needn’t worry about protecting themselves, because they have President Obama, and “he sees himself as protector-in-chief.”

Here is part of a conversation between Richard Nixon and Nixon's Chief of Staff H.R Haldemann reacting to John Kerry's appearance on The Dick Cavett Show with Nixon supporter John O'Neill

Nixon: Nothing you can do about it, obviously?Haldemann: We've complained bitterly about the Cavett show.Nixon: Well, is there any way we can screw him [Cavett]? That's what I mean. There must be ways.Haldemann: We've been trying to.

Its not easy 'screwing' or 'sending people to hell' when you are in the White House... thank God.

Get over yourself. Does anyone in here actually "hate" Mrs. Obama? Because laughing at her pretentious self-centered nonsense is not showing "unhinged hatred." She puts herself out there with her Foodie Policies and her silly statements about how she wasn't proud of her country until her husband became president. And, of course, she wears expensive designer clothes and jets off to the far corners of the world for lavish vacations that would be perpetually criticized if she was a Republican. Just ask Nancy Reagan.

I remember when W. was getting a daily beating from the media after the 9/11 fake respect period expired.

He was never rude or or even very defensive toward them, and it used to get me pissed. I wanted him to call them out, to shame them in public, and to be an ass. I would be so much happier as a Democrat. That's what I get for voting for grown ups.

Oh wait, I am still a goddamned registered Democrat. I got to get that fixed some day. I guess I'll go Independent when I do, but since I'm currently a Democrat, I thought someone else would take care of that for me. I know if I said I was handicapped, someone would show up and hold my hand, but I'm a Democrat and that clearly shows I need help with stuff, and a little Obama stash if you know what I mean, brother.

"It's great to see the CCCons chiming in to defend the idea of empty phoniness as a core tenet of etiquette.

It kind of clarifies what they're all about."

What? Actual courtesy and civility toward your opponents instead of the sort where your bad behavior is excused because your heart is pure?

So everyone can simply use the excuse of "I was being honest about my sacred feelings" when they call Michelle a fat wookie? Or can I safely assume that "I was being honest about my sacred feelings" is only a valid excuse if you're a liberal?

Leo Lenbeck III posted today at The Belmont Club, and it seems to be very fitting:

I’ll give the last word to Tocqueville, as he describes the way he expects despotism to emerge from modern democracy:

Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?

Thus it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality has prepared men for these things; it has predisposed men to endure them and often to look on them as benefits.

After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

@Inga and garage (and anyone else who thinks like they do about celebrities).

Celebrities and people in high places do not get a pass on bad behavior. It is not OK to excuse their bad behavior by comparing it to louts like me and you who inhabit Althouse. What did FLOTUS gain by her little middle school taunt? She gave her hard core supporters a couple yucks for sure, but she further alienated the rest. WTF kind of example is that? Are her daughters supposed to look at her and say "cool, mom!" Are she and POTUS supposed to bump fists over it somewhere off camera?

Of course, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Laura Bush. Yep, not a single portrayal on SNL. It's amazing how they were all so loved and respected by the left. And they didn't even try to tell you what to eat, or what your kids should be fed at school, and they foolishly respected their country even before their husbands got elected. Silly broads.

I see no reason to assume she was reacting to something Boehner said. It is easy to take these things out of context.

For all we know, her husband cracked a joke she'd heard him tell a hundred times before and she rolled her eyes at that. There are lots of possible explanations beyond "being bitchy about the seating arrangements".

Palladian, coming from YOU, that's supposed to mean something to me? I guess it doesn't shame you to hawk your wares to the commenters here, but hey it would be a shame if you couldn't pay your rent, or buy gourmet food to cook.

I'm studying the prospect of how often a raging pimp like "Shouting Thomas" would ever get invited to the White House. What makes him an expert on protocol? His own mannerless behavior?

Boehner is not just any guest of the people. He and Obama have each other on speed dial, they have to work together, and Michelle Obama has an entire constituency of non-politicians to "appease", as you would have her do.

"For all we know, her husband cracked a joke she'd heard him tell a hundred times before and she rolled her eyes at that. There are lots of possible explanations beyond "being bitchy about the seating arrangements"."

Exactly.

So much nothing there but gawker and commenters there and Inga and Ritmo WANT to believe she was acting publicly dismissive to Boehner (and his wife) because of teh awesomeness.

I see no reason to assume she was reacting to something Boehner said. It is easy to take these things out of context.

For all we know, her husband cracked a joke she'd heard him tell a hundred times before and she rolled her eyes at that. There are lots of possible explanations beyond "being bitchy about the seating arrangements".

Ha ha, yeah, everyone here is assuming she was rude to Boehner, the only dispute is whether being rude to Boehner is awesome or not.

If she wasn't being rude, the whole conversation is moot. But revealing nonetheless :-)

Palladian, coming from YOU, that's supposed to mean something to me? I guess it doesn't shame you to hawk your wares to the commenters here, but hey it would be a shame if you couldn't pay your rent, or buy gourmet food to cook.

You're a real cunt, Inga. But fortunately, you're also as dumb as a bag of ball peen hammers.

And no, it doesn't shame me at all to "hawk my wares" at all, nor does it shame me to share my thoughts, feelings and even troubles with a group of people that I generally like.

Unfortunately, this being a public forum, I'm also forced to share with people that I dislike, including you.

I think there's probably an innocent explanation for the eye roll. If there isn't, there soon will be.....If it truly was a gesture of contempt at a state dinner, it indicates that Michelle isn't ready for prime time.

Ritmo, I'm trying like hell, believe me, to come up with some way to help you understand that you've got some sort of serious emotional problem that's interfering with your ability to use your intellect.

It's clear you have an intellect.

Buy, something is getting in the way and not allowing it to function.

God alone knows what it is, because I don't know you well enough to say.

Ritmo, I'm trying like hell, believe me, to come up with some way to help you understand that you've got some sort of serious emotional problem that's interfering with your ability to use your intellect.

I aspire to one day possess the arrogance contained in this paragraph, and use it to help me overcome my "emotional" problems.

William said...I think there's probably an innocent explanation for the eye roll. If there isn't, there soon will be.....If it truly was a gesture of contempt at a state dinner, it indicates that Michelle isn't ready for prime time.

Michelle Obama's job is to make Boehner fell welcome and comfortable at a public event where she is the victor.

FUCK THAT AND FUCK YOU!

Have his pussy-ass over to your own boring house and play those chincy show-tunes for him your fuckingself.

I'm sure he'd love it.

The two of you douchebags could cry together, shed a few tears over how great things were in the good old days, when you could beat up whomever who felt resentful of and bested by without anyone taking your sorry-ass to task for it.

Oh Ritmo, I know what slave labor is. It's what I do January 1st through sometime in late July every damned year. And after that, the Boss man says were even more in debt than before around this plantation, and we need you to give a little more there Bago.

Actually, none of the people in that video look like they're having a good time. Can you imagine Jack and Jackie acting like that?

The more I read about Jack Kennedy, the more impressed I am about his way with people. He had a knack for it. He was truly congenial. Naturally. And not just with the ladies ;) And Jackie...well, after hearing her 'spoken history', I confess I'm a little less impressed with her, except that she was, for the most part, able to hide her true feelings about the people and the process. (which, according to her 'spoken history', Jack encouraged her to do. She said he didn't even want her to think badly about his opponets. He said that they'll know how you feel, and we need their help to get things done.)

Alternate universe question: What would the lefties be saying if it was Ann Romney rolling her eyes at Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi at her husband's inagural lunch (while hunched over her plate and with her elbows on the table)?

Better than having her roll her eyes at half the country while batting her eyelashes at the One who provided that insult.

Anyway, it looks like Synova's debunked the intentional propaganda. Obama was just sick of hearing him tell the same fucking joke. There were no hard feelings.

Except for Shouting Thomas - may he practice in peace and always be thought highly of.

And while your in that part of your data analysis, please also tell us how our children and grandchildren are going to get by when one full set of taxes goes to pay for our spending today, and another entire full set of taxes are required to pay for their spending?

Ass-kissing print-outs of Linked-In profiles that make merit secondary to a "social network"? Oh, wait

Pretty much nobody wants to work with an asshole who can't do his job. Some do, which is presumably why you have coworkers, but most don't.

So, yeah, "does anybody know someone who'd be good for this job" is always the first question we ask. They still have to pass the tests and the interview, of course -- but turning to the stack of resumes is a last resort.

An irony here -- given your endless bitching about offshoring -- is that if we relied on resumes we'd probably never hire another American, ever. For every American who looks good on paper you can find ten Indians who look even better and cost less. Which is why offshoring is so popular, of course -- on paper, it looks like a no-brainer. In reality, it involves hiring no-brainers.

Thanks for the non-answer, Revenant. You're inability to differentiate what looks good on a foreign resume from what looks good to someone familiar with American workplaces and credentials, though, rather proves my point. You don't know what you're looking at.

Thanks for the gratuitous pot-shots too. I understand the importance of getting along with and gaining respect at work (if I said I was good at it, then you petty people would get resentful and pre-emptively call "foul!"), and of having other professionals who know your work vouch for you. Not the same as the bullshit that Linked-In has reduced everyone to. In fact, I hardly see how it's not the very embodiment of the sort of resume-puffing that you decry.

I had a girl I never even carried through on asking out on a date ask me for a Linked-In reference once. It kind of solidified in my mind what bullshit it is. It's the fucking FaceBook of professionalism. By which I mean it's the embodiment of its degradation.